Happiness in the little things

One of the things I like about myself is that I can get really happy - ok, maybe even giddy - over small, inconsequential things. I just thought about this as I pulled out a new pack of Orbitz gum. I unwrapped the boring cellophane, and a paisley-geometric-swirly, happy green pack made me smile.

Sometimes, I can let myself get down about stupid things. Things that I can't change, but that I choose to let sadden me. Looking at this simple pack of gum made me realize that I need to be aware of the little things that make me happy. If  I know little things that make me happy, I can snap out of it when I'm letting something get me down. It doesn't take a vacation, shopping spree or large ticket item to make me happy. Life is about the little things.

So, without any more rambling, here are a few things that make me smile:

• The way Presley army crawls on her belly from the foot of the bed up to my face.
• Talking to my precious nephews on the phone - hearing the same story twice and being just as excited when each one tells me his version and adds different details.
• Getting a card from one of my lifelong friends. Although we don't talk as often as we should, she always seems to send me a card with a note on the days that I really need it.
• Watching snow fall - and then running outside to play in it.
• The ice cream truck.
• The garbage trucks in Otovalo, Ecuador. They play happy music - it sounds like a child's piano with a concert pianist playing...and bells.
• Going home every day and being greeted by Presley as if I had been gone for months - even if I was already home at lunch!
• My to-go coffee cups.
• Monogrammed anything.
• Floating in a swimming pool on a sunny day.

You can only have so many big things in life. Most of life are little events that happen repeatedly. But, if you look for the little things - even the repeated ones - that make you happy, you don't have to dwell in a rut until one of the big events happens. Find joy in clear starry nights and amazing homemade cups of coffee. Remember to recognize happiness in daily life, because if you don't look for it, you'll forget God always gives you little happys* that you don't have to spend money on and buy for yourself. Big events are exciting and fun; they definitely stand out. But, I want to always remember the little things, too.

* A happy is just a little gift that someone gives you to make you happy. For example, here's a lime green lint roller because you can't ever find yours and your favorite color is green. It was a dollar in the dollar spot at Target. You're welcome, Rachel! :) There's no reason, and it's usually $10 or less. Just a little something to say I saw this, thought of you and know it will brighten your day. Happys  are multiple happy presents. (and yes, I know it should be spelled happies, but that just looks awkward. Since it's a word not recognized by the dictionary, I get to choose my spelling.)

scratching an itch

Since I was a young girl dreaming of princesses and fairy tales, I have wanted to travel and see the world. Despite growing up in a rural area, I was blessed to travel in the U.S. during high school through church youth trips. In college, my traveling was limited because of work and classes - and a lack of funds! Now, I save money and deal with hand-me-down furniture, so that I can scratch my travel itch.

Traveling has given me such a broader worldview. Seeing how others live, the multitude of different normals and the variety of people and cultures God created never gets old. Each trip I take, whether domestic or international, I learn something new. If you've looked at my list (see the link at the top of the page), you probably notice that most of the things I want to do involve travel and seeing famous sites. But, some of the best travel memories involve the minute details of travel - sitting in a coffee shop with Big Ben right outside the window in London, eating the best garlic bread in the world in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Otavalo, Ecuador, drinking tea in the car on a ferry in Ireland.

Here are a few quotes I've found about travel:

• The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~ St.Augustine
• I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. ~ Mark Twain
• Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.  ~Mark Twain
• To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. ~ Aldous Huxley
• Without travel, I would have wound up a little ignorant white Southern female, which was not my idea of a good life. ~ Lauren Hutton
• Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. ~ Helen Keller
• Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. ~ Miriam Beard
• When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~ Susan Heller
• Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings. ~ Hodding Carter
• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  ~ Mark Twain 

I love almost all aspects of travel (security checkpoints do get old, as does unpacking!). But, I love making a schedule, researching things to do, planning must see adventures. While you're traveling, there's an unexplained adrenaline - a high, if you will - that makes anything seem possible. Yes, I can travel all night and immediately spend the entire day sightseeing (been there, done that - Ireland 2009!). A few months after returning home, you look through photos and wonder why you planned the day like that and how you ever did it, not to mention claim that it could never be done again. But, a few months later, you get a travel itch and need to scratch it...and start making an agenda that might involve flying for hours and then immediately jumping with both feet in to a day of adventure.

Yes, Vietnam, here I come!

dreams and lists

I'm a list maker, but whenever it comes to listing my life goals for 5 years, 10 years or 20 years from now, I'm not any good at it. However, I recently stumbled across a blog of a girl that's close to my age. She has been diagnosed with stage IV cancer and told she only has 6-12 months to live. The gist of her blog is a list of things she wants to do in the 180+ days (6 months) she has left to live. She's still pursuing treatment and is hopeful she'll outlive her diagnosis, but she's living her life for what she has left.

This story really hit me. Both my parents are cancer survivors. Thankfully, their cancers were caught early and responded to treatment. Each time they have a test to ensure their cancers are in remission, I hold my breath until I get a call with the good news. I've gotten a call with the bad news, and you still let your breath out, just in a much different way, like a punch straight in your diaphragm with a little pain and breathlessness. But, like the blog I found, you still have to live as though you have life.

Sometimes, I think about my future, and I see some type of cancer in it. I don't want to get my diagnosis and realize I only have days to conquer my bucket list - that I don't have because I never take the time to write it down. I want to live my life checking off my dreams and making them come true.

So, I'm working on a list. It will be in no particular order, but there were probably be subheadings, because the type A may come out. :) As I check each one off, I'll link to a post about it.

Aren't you excited? haha!

Roots

When I was getting ready to graduate, I wanted to move away from Alabama. Not because I don't like where I grew up, not because I want to leave the South, but simply for a new adventure. Possibly, because it was something my siblings hadn't done. Being the youngest, it can be difficult to find things to do that the others haven't already done.

Sometimes I am sort of the black sheep of the kids - the one who does things differently and the others don't understand. Other times, I am so much like them that you can definitely see we all grew up together (well, sort of, minus the age gap).

The older I get...as I grow and meet people from other cultures...I start reviewing my own culture. Through the generations, the cultures my ancestors came from have been lost or forgotten. We don't eat a lot of food passed down - like if we lived in Minnesota or Michigan with Polish influence. We don't dress in kilts for special events, even though some ancestors are Scottish and Irish. I have a melting pot of several European countries...and possibly others. But for the most part, all the customs have been lost. I am the "melting pot" that is America. I have American customs and culture.

For me, my culture is the South. The good, the bad, the ugly. Additionally, I have a small town culture. I don't know if I realized how much small town was in me until I moved from a college town (another culture in its own right) to a small town - not where I grew up, but in the same state. Things happen that my friends don't understand. Knowing everyone's business. Waving when you're driving down the road and pass someone. Not being able to do anything after 12 on Wednesdays. Not being able to go out to eat after 8 p.m. Not having a variety of restaurants - and definitely no delivery! No Walmart.

Sidebar: When did Wal-mart become Walmart? I have recently realized that there is no longer a hyphen in the signs or insignia. There used to be. I'm sure.

Back to the topic: I am not a small-town girl. But, I get the culture. I can cope. I can survive. Sure, it's probably not what I had pictured in my life dream. But for now, it's home. And once a week, I escape to the city...even if it's a small one. And I admit it, sometimes I thrive on it. Not dealing with traffic (other than people who refuse to use blinkers and not drive the speed limit). Having community. Being able to go completely from one side of town to the other (and maybe the next town) in 5 or 10 minutes.

Maybe dreams change. What you have pictured evolves over time. When I was young, I colored all the time. Sometimes, mom bought me those huge coloring books that have no rhyme or reason to the pages, just lots of activities. Other times, the book had a theme - animals, cartoon characters. I think life dreams are kind of like themed coloring books. Each page is a little different, and if you don't like how you colored a particular page or element on the page, just flip to the next one to try it a little differently.

After searching the US for a job, I realized I wanted to stay in the South for now. Maybe one day I'll venture out and try another culture. For now, Alabama is still home, I'm just in a different part of the state. I'm learning about hills, groundhogs and things that make this area unique. I get to forget about love bugs. I get to miss the beach. But, through it all. I get to explore - my culture, the ones I visit and those I meet through work.

So, go color a picture...or a whole coloring book. And think about culture - what you value, what you don't - the good, the bad, the ugly. Which stereotypes are true? Which ones are false? Which ones would people not understand if they aren't part of it? Remember...stay in the lines, but be creative!

my new home in the blogosphere

It took me a long time to finally decide to create a new blog. But, I feel like with growing and changing, sometimes a new start is needed. I decided to use Blogger instead of my old Live Journal. I want something a little more than I did this today with this person and took this quiz.

I don't really like to write. I wish I enjoyed it more. I wish I had a creative outlet for my thoughts. I can't write music. I don't enjoy poetry. My music level is mediocre; my painting skills nonexistent. Maybe I can make myself write and learn to love it.

Usually, my thoughts are superficial. I don't have depth and philosophy. Sometimes, I still feel like a 16-year-old giggly girl. I relate things to shopping, friends and happiness. My analogies don't always transcend ages and stages of life. But occasionally, something deep crosses my mind.

Speaking of deep thoughts...that brings up relativity. What is deep to me may be shallow to you. Or what's deep to you may confuse me completely. I don't think my new blog is going to be like that at all.